"Eric P. Newman's collection of world coins takes us on a voyage
through numismatic history: from Tierra del Fuego to the Rio
Grande, across the Atlantic through the European continent, moving
east into Russia, south into Asia, and west into Africa," said
Cristiano Bierrenbach, Vice President at Heritage Auctions. "This
true international coin collection, featuring superb rarities from
more than 40 countries, will be presented in a dedicated
catalog."

Today, at 102 years old, Eric P. Newman is the foremost United
States numismatic researcher and author. In addition to assembling
one of the single finest collections of U.S. coinage ever seen,
Newman accumulated a premier collection of world coins and medals.
His enjoyment of travel and adventure is a significant part of his
never-ending quest for knowledge of the world and its
inhabitants.

"Eric P. Newman has visited more than 150 countries in his
extensive travels with his wife Evelyn," said Bierrenbach. "These
amazing coins are a testament to his global voyages."

"While the Newman collection is very diverse, perhaps the strongest
overall section consists of the German and Austrian coins," said
Bierrenbach. "There are many rare and previously-unknown specimens
that are sure to set new records."

Items being sold are from the extensive collection of Eric P.
Newman Numismatic Education Society (a Missouri not-for-profit
corporation) and have been assembled over a period of 90 years.
Proceeds of the sale of all items will be used exclusively for
supplementing the Society's museum operations and scholarly
numismatic research efforts and for the benefit of other
not-for-profit institutions selected by Eric P. Newman Numismatic
Education Society for public purposes.

The 1879 Coiled Hair stella is one of the rarest and most valuable
issues in American numismatics. The coins possess a beauty of
design and intense historic interest that few issues can match, in
addition to their absolute rarity. The infrequent auction
appearances of Coiled Hair examples are met with spirited bidding
from pattern enthusiasts and advanced U.S. gold collectors alike.
The most recent public offering realized a price in excess of $1
million. Heritage Auctions is pleased to offer one of the finest known
examples of this iconic issue, graded Proof-66 Cameo by PCGS,
in our January 2014 FUN
auction.

All stellas are technically patterns for a proposed international
coinage that was intended to function much as the euro does in the
EU today. Two designs were produced, the Flowing Hair motif by
William Barber and the Coiled Hair design by George Morgan. Both
types were produced in successive years in 1879 and 1880, but only
the 1879 Flowing Hair type is seen with any regularity, as several
hundred restrikes were made of that issue. Both designs were also
struck in copper, aluminum, and white metal. Although the stellas
were ostensibly produced in the goloid alloy patented by Dr.
Wheeler Hubbell, recent research suggests that all the "Goloid"
stellas were struck on half eagle planchets that were filed down to
reduce the gold content to the proper level. This procedure
resulted in the parallel striations seen on all known examples.

As mentioned above, the 1879 Coiled Hair stella
is much more elusive than its Flowing Hair counterpart.
Contemporary collectors believed only 10 coins were struck, but a
few more examples are known today, so either the initial mintage
was slightly larger or there was a small restrike mintage in 1880.
The PCGS CoinFacts website estimates 12-15 examples are extant in
all grades, and this corresponds well with the roster in our
catalog, which lists 13 distinct specimens, including three that
are impounded in institutional collections.

Like many Flowing Hair examples, the Coiled Hair stellas were
marketed as part of three-coin Goloid sets, including an example of
the Goloid dollar, Judd-1622, a Metric dollar pattern, Judd-1631,
and the Coiled Hair stella, Judd-1638. One of the earliest auction
appearances of such a set was in the John Colvin Randall Collection
in 1882, where it was described as "Excessively Rare."

The coin we are
offering at FUN claims the longest pedigree of any 1879 Coiled
Hair stella. It traces its history to the fabled Garrett
Collection, founded by T. Harrison Garrett in the second half of
the 19th century. The Garrett family managed the B.
& O. Railroad, which is famous today as one of the railroad
properties in the popular Monopoly board game. T. Harrison Garrett
was a connoisseur of numismatics and, even though he died young in
a boating accident, he had the resources to assemble one of the
finest cabinets of the 19th century. His collection, including the
coin offered here, was passed on to his sons, who continued to add
to and upgrade their holdings until John Work Garrett passed away
in 1942. The collection was donated to Johns Hopkins University
after his death, and finally dispersed in a series of sales by
several auction companies after 1976. When this coin was featured
in lot 431 of the Garrett Collection, Part I (Bowers and Ruddy,
11/1979), it realized $115,000, a staggering price for any coin at
that time.

This coin is a
magnificent Premium Gem, with razor-sharp definition on most design
elements, showing just a touch of softness on some hair strands due
to the always present planchet striations. These striations are
minimal on this specimen and not nearly as noticeable as they
appear on some examples. The devices display a richly frosted
texture that creates intense cameo contrast with the deeply
mirrored fields. The well-preserved yellow-gold surfaces are
virtually pristine, with just a tiny mark between star 1 and the
dentils and a microscopic spot above the 8 in the date to act as
pedigree markers. This coin possesses terrific eye appeal to
complement its high technical grade and outstanding pedigree. A
comparable specimen may not become available for decades.

This piece has
been offered in several notable collections since the Garrett sale,
always causing intense excitement and realizing higher prices at
every appearance. It has been off the market for more than a decade
now, realizing a stunning $310,500 in its last offering in Stack's
65th Anniversary Sale. Considering the prices recent
offerings have realized, we expect it to bring a multiple of that
total at FUN.

If you've ever placed
Live Proxy bids through Heritage Live in one of our live auctions,
you may have used the Bid Protection option, which will raise your
bid one increment if it is necessary to win the lot.

Now, Bid Protection is available in regular Proxy Bidding through
the Heritage website. For all items in auctions
with a Live component (Signature and Grand Format auctions,
Signature Internet Session, Rare Book Internet auctions), you will
see the Bid Protection option whenever you place a bid from the
item's individual page. To use this feature, just click on the Bid
Protection checkbox when you place your bid, as pictured below.

Bid Protection is only available for auctions with a live
component. It can currently only be added through bids from
individual item pages or from Heritage Live; it is unavailable
through Batch Bidding. More Bid Protection features are coming
soon.

Heritage Auctions is seeking talented numismatists with a broad
range of expertise to join our Dallas office. If you have a good
working knowledge base of U S. coins and currency and are
comfortable dealing with the public, we have openings for permanent
positions as a buyer. Duties will include dealing with walk-in
clients, evaluating and purchasing coins and currency, working
local coin shows, and accepting Auction consignments. Pay will be
commensurate with numismatic experience.

When you win any lot worth with a hammer price of $1,000 or more
(or $2,500 for Art and Nature & Science lots), you will receive
a coupon that entitles you (or your heirs) to re-consign that lot
to Heritage at a reduced seller's commission. Selling through
Heritage is a convenient and hassle free way to maximize your
return (find
out why). Maybe you'll need to make room in your collection for
something better, perhaps your collecting tastes will change, or
maybe it will be your heirs that benefit; but be sure to save the
coupon, which could be worth hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Coins: 0% Seller's Commission for all items $1K or
more.

Comics: 50% of the usual Seller's Commission for all
items between $1K & $10K, and 0% for items $10K and over.

All Other Categories: 50% of the usual Seller's
Commission for everything else over $1K ($2,500 for Art &
Natural History).

As the fastest growing American-based
auction house, financially rock-solid Heritage Auctions continues
to grow and seek the best talent in the industry. If you are a
specialist or have strong general collectibles knowledge, we want
to hear from you. These specialists will, in some cases, head new
departments and in others will enhance existing department
expertise. We have positions open at our headquarters in Dallas as
well as at our new state-of-the-art galleries in prime locations in
both Midtown Manhattan and Beverly Hills.

Heritage is seeking to hire the world's best specialists in the
following categories:

Asian Art Specialist

Automobilia Specialist

Coin Buyer

Decorative Arts & Design Specialist

European Art Specialist

Modern & Contemporary Art Specialist: (New York,
Beverly Hills)

World Coins Director: Hong Kong

If you are interested and feel you have the qualifications we
seek, please email your resume and salary history to Experts@HA.com.

We are also seeking to fill the following corporate positions:

Client Data Specialist part-time

Client Services Representative

Consignment Coordinator

Currency Consignment Director

e-Publishing Expert

Interns

Maintenance Assistant

Operations Assistant

Web Marketing Specialist

U.S. Coin Cataloger Needed

If you are interested in applying for one of these Corporate
positions, please
apply here.

"It's certainly one of the most unique and historically important
collections we've ever handled," said Dustin Johnston, Director of
Currency Auctions at Heritage. "Mr. Ruther trusts us with a very
important keepsake for future generations and we fully expect
collectors will appreciate this opportunity."

Ruther, the long-time Chief Banknote Designer
for the Bureau of Engraving & Printing, personally supervised
the Bureau's design team and was responsible for the most major
design changes on U.S. Currency since 1929. Although his currency
redesign project was first initiated in the 1980s, the serious work
began in 1992, when the Treasury Department authorized the redesign
of all currency above the $5 note. Final approval of the New
Currency Design prepared by Ruther came in 1995 and the new notes,
colloquially dubbed the "Big Head" series in honor of the revised
portraits, debuted in 1996. With the successful release of the
redesigned Series 1996 $20, $50 and $100 notes, attention then
turned to the modification of the $5 and $10 denominations. Ruther
was again the designer for these notes, the first of which carried
the Series 1999 designation.

The culmination of Jack Ruther's thirty years career at the BEP
came when he was called to design what became known as the "NexGen"
or Next Generation Currency, which debuted with the Series 2004
notes. In addition to added new sophisticated anti-counterfeiting
devices, the Series 2004 notes were the first in a century of U.S.
currency production that featured a multi-color design on both the
front and back. A group of four Fr. 2089-E $20 2004
Federal Reserve Notes containing the signatures of designer V.
Jack Ruther, Thomas Hipschen, who engraved both the portrait as
well as the back vignette, letter/script engraver John Smith, Jr.,
and modeler William Krawczewicz, is expected to bring $3,000+. Two
of the star examples also bear the signature of the BEP's former
director, Thomas Ferguson.

Ruther's holdings are literally one of a kind, as he assembled sets
of each design as they were released, with the notes containing the
autograph signatures of the portrait engravers, the letter/script
engravers, the BEP modelers, BEP directors, and, in some cases,
selected dignitaries associated with the notes such as Secretaries
of the Treasury John Snow and Henry Paulson and Treasurer of the
United States Anna Escobedo Cabral, as well as his own.

All of the notes have been certified and graded by PCGS, with each
bearing the title "From the Banknote Designer Collection." Other
than some Educational Notes signed by designer Thomas Morris and
Treasurer of the United States D.N. Morgan we know of no other U.S.
Currency courtesy autographed by its designer, let alone by the
entire design team.

The upcoming Atlanta ANA auction to be
held February 27th through March 2nd already has
standout collections consigned and now is your chance to
participate in this stellar auction. Our proven track record of
success when partnering with the American Numismatic Association
always ensures strong auction results. The January 14th
deadline is quickly approaching so act now to ensure your spot in
this legendary event. Call our Consignment Hotline at
1-800-872-6467
x1000 today!